December 2018 Astrology Forecast: No More Retrogrades

In episode 183 of the podcast astrologers Chris Brennan, Kelly Surtees, and Austin Coppock discuss the astrological forecast for December of 2018, and the end of a year that has been filled with a seemingly endless barrage of retrograde planets.

This episode was recorded earlier in November than usual, and it opens with Austin telling a humorous story about some recent Mercury retrograde snafus he ran into while trying to get a new passport, so that he could fly to Australia for the “So Below” event with Gordon White of the Rune Soup podcast (Austin ended up making it).

Early in the episode we also discuss the fine balance between taking astrology seriously but still being able to have some degree of levity about it, or a live and let live attitude with other approaches and people whose views may differ from your own.

Eventually we get to the forecast for December, which features Mercury stationing direct in Scorpio, and lunations in Sagittarius and Cancer.

Later in the episode we highlight one auspicious electional chart this month, a Jupiter in Sagittarius election, which can be used for beginning a new venture or undertaking.

Below you will find the show notes, followed by links to download the recording of this episode at the bottom of the page, which is available in both audio and video versions.

News and Announcements

Kelly recently launched a new weekly show called the Water Trio Podcast with Cassandra Tyndall and Alicia Shaich Yusuf.

Chris is doing astrology calendar posters again for 2019, and they are being printed up now! Sign up for The Astrology Podcast Newsletter to receive an email as soon as they are available.

Chris is in the process of changing podcast hosting, and the podcast should be available on Spotify soon. Also trying to update the feed so that instead of just the latest 50 episodes being displayed it shows the last 200 episodes. This may or may not work though, and I’ll probably be working out the kinks over the next week or two.

Major Astrological Alignments for December of 2018

Here are some of the major transits for December that we cover in this episode:

Mercury intro Scorpio on December 1

Venus ingresses into Scorpio on December 2

Mercury stations direct in late Scorpio December 6

New Moon in Sagittarius on December 7

Mercury moves back into Sagittarius on December 12

Sun moves into Capricorn December 21

Full Moon in Cancer December 22

Mars moves into Aries December 31

Auspicious Electional Chart for December

The auspicious election this month that was chosen by Leisa Schaim is set for:

North versus South zodiac dissonance: so glad you are talking about this Conceptually it’s a real weak point. As Kelly Surtees, who no doubt has plenty of N/S experience with chart-readings, says: The zodiac works in charts both North and South.

So somehow our way at looking at the zodiac has to shift. One solution possibly would be to concentrate on 6 polarities rather than 12 signs. I think most of us tend to do that anyway, if you do a lot of charts you very soon begin to realise that Pisceans are often more Virgoan etc etc etc. It’s a very simple solution.

We could also get more controversial and complicated and look at the exportation of Western ‘ culture’ at the point of the sword/gun/economics etc Astrology moved south and was forced onto societies there along with christianity and capitalism
But that would not explain why it works. Whereas the 6 polarities would.

Coming up with explanations and reverse engineering them to make sense of things is a bad idea. Is it really that difficult to simply say, “We don’t know,” and then to look for data first, in lieu of jumping to explanations and backtracking from there?

December kicks off a new story line I do no believe was mentioned – which is the running semi sextile of Jupiter and Saturn most of 2019. Of course, this will affect some more than others depending on natal placement. Starting Dec 1 Saturn is at 7 deg Cap and Jupiter is at 4 degrees Sag, barely seeing each other if at all. By Dec 24 they are a creating a partile semi sextile at 10 degrees each sign. This means that any natal or transiting planet in orb of 10 deg in Aries will trine Jupiter and square Saturn in Capricorn at the same time, any planets in Leo at 10 deg will trine Jupiter and quincuncx Saturn, any planets in Libra will sextile Jupiter and square Saturn, and planets in Cancer will oppose Saturn and quincuncx Jupiter (and the list goes on). The point being that there is an ongoing dynamic that does not break free until November 2019 when Jupiter finally gains speed to ingress into Capricorn. Santa and the Grinch?

The onl;y data I know of is that the Zodiac seems to work well both North and South. I’ve done some (a few 100) southern hemisphere charts, mostly South American and there doesn’t seem to be an issue with using the northern vision of the sky. And of course 100s of good astrologers from The South use the same data and 100s of 1.000s of people resonate with Northern zodiac signs. What other data would you look for, Adam? I wonder if reversed-sign trials have been done? Like reading an Aussie Leos chart as if she were really an Aquarius? That would be interesting.
a.

Aine, let’s say you are reading a Southern Hemisphere Aries’ chart. The individual was born in the Autumn. What about Aries is expressed in this individual’s core identity that has nothing to do with the seasons? Probably a lot. Cardinal Fire has nothing to do with leaves falling or sprouting. There is a change of season (the cardinal beginning or “hinge” and in both Libra and Aries is expressive and masculine. This is why it seems to me that it does not matter which hemisphere one is in.
Another thing to note. In Southern California the Northern hemisphere winter is a 180 from North Eastern US. Maybe too much importance has been given to the seasonal analogy. A metaphor we can live without, no problem. Perhaps useful data would be examining charts of famous people born in Southern Hemisphere.